Great 11 Year Old Party Idea: The Amazing Race Birthday Party!

*Please note: I am just a parent who is a fan of the hit TV show “Amazing Race” and created an Amazing Race birthday party theme that celebrates the fun of the show. This post is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by CBS or The Amazing Race. All ideas and opinions expressed here are my own.

I LOVE throwing fun yet easy kids birthday parties at home! Over the years I have done a ton of them- but the one I've done more than any other is our “Minute To Win It” themed birthday party. It has fun games, it keeps active kids engaged, and it is so simple to put together. But this year I thought I would create a party around another favorite TV show in our house… “The Amazing Race”! We watch it together as a family on Sunday evenings, and I knew my kids would LOVE an Amazing Race birthday party!

Amazing Race Ideas

If you look online, you'll see lots of ideas for holding an Amazing Race party that involves teams paired up with Moms and Dads as drivers, conducting the race throughout their hometown. But these parties take some more significant set-up time, and you have to work with local shopkeepers to help with game participation, plus it means securing other adults to serve as team leaders and drivers.

The other downside is that your birthday party guests are spread out all over the place playing the game as they race around the town, so you are missing the change to enjoy each other's company!

I wanted to create an Amazing Race birthday party that you can do in your own backyard. (Or if you want more space you can hold it at a local park- but it will still be all in one place, no driving around needed!)

The Amazing Race Birthday Party Invitation:

I created these cool party invites which can be printed and mailed or sent out as an email attachment. You'll find a download link to the printed invite at the end of this post.

I asked the guests to please come wearing sneakers (I don't want risk game-time injuries due to kids playing in flip-flops!)

*Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you purchase through these links.

Amazing Race Games:

When kids arrive, you can draw names in pairs from a hat to make up teams. Hand each team a pair of tee shirts in a different colorThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. (blue team, red team, green team, etc.) and then ask the players to remove their sneakers and put them into a bin so that one of the adults can scatter the sneakers throughout the yard for the first game!

Lead the kids over to your starting area to kick-off the Amazing Race. (On the show, there is a mat that players stand on to begin and end legs of the race. You can use the doormat from your front door, or perhaps create one with the Amazing Race logo!)

Mom, Dad, or an older sibling can serve as the announcer, welcoming the teams and explaining the rules of the game:

“We'd like to welcome our teams to this leg of the Amazing Race, celebrating Jack's 11th Birthday Party. Let's meet our teams…. The Blue Team is made up of Jack and Alex- long lost cousins who now attend college at the University of Soccer” (continue introducing the teams, giving them humorous relationships “cross-country truck drivers”, or “Country-Western banjo players”- just like they do on the TV show.)

“Teams will race to find the clues that will give them the instructions for that part of the race. Clues can either be: “Route Info” where teams will need to follow the instructions on the card to receive the next clue, “Detours” where teams are given a choice of two activities to complete together to receive the next clue, or “Road Blocks” where only one team member must complete the task in order to move ahead. Are you ready for your first clue?”

Then hand each team an envelope with this logo on it (you'll find it in the download at the end of this post). You can pick up a stack of tear-open sealable envelopes for free from the post office (of course, they aren't exactly meant for this purpose…) or order some hereThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and then print the Amazing Race logo below and glue it onto the outside of the envelope.

Inside the envelope teams will receive their first “Route Info” card (you can download these at the end of this post):

As teams complete this task and return to the mat- you can hand them their next clue:

You can make this as difficult as you'd like- making the ribbons on the treesThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. themselves tiny and hard to find or scattering dozens or even hundreds of coins around the tree- allowing only one coin to have the correct birth year on it, etc.

Ideally, you want teams to spend 5-10 minutes in the hunt. When they return to the mat with the correct coin you hand them another Amazing Race tear-off envelope with two cards inside this one on top:

Oooh… a roadblock! Only one team member can perform this task- and they must choose which person continues before reading the second card:

Hand the builder a box of materials to build the marshmallow launcher (please check out this fab post from Grandma's Briefs to see how the launcher is constructed).

Before the party, you will need to build one example launcher, using a plastic cupThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and balloonThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you., that the kids can look at as a model, but they will not receive instructions for making their own launcher. They must look at the example and construct their own as best they can.

When they come back to you “for inspection”, try launching a marshmallow to make sure that it works before giving them their next clue:

Have a stack of plastic beach bucketsThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. ready as well as a bag or two of marshmallows and let the kids launch the marshmallows into the bucket!

The player with the bucket on their head can move around, but the bucket must be touching the top of his/her head. Once they get three in, hand them their next clue:

Cool- a detour! Teams can decide which of the two activities they would like to do- either the hackeysack juggle or the scavenger hunt! You can use a knit beanbag-ball type of hackeysackThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. or a traditional Chinese versionThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. that looks like this:

When they have completed the detour you can hand them their final clue:

Take a shoebox and cut a round hole in the lid just big enough to allow a ping box to shake out if you are shaking the box. Now attach a long piece of fabric to each side that will let you tie the box around your waist like a belt.

Fill the box with ping pong ballsThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. marking only one with an ‘X'. (Note: you'll need a separate box for each team at the party but you can re-use this game for other parties over the years, I promise!)

Planning a party or get together for tweens?

Then be sure to check out this list of The Best Backyard Games for Tweens This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you.and The Best Party Games for TweensThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. over on my Amazon influencer pageThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you.!

Not Into These Games? Change it Up!

You can customize your Amazing Race game to include whatever wacky crazy party activities you'd like! I've included blank route info, detour, and roadblock cards in the downloadable game file at the end of this post that you can use to construct your own version of the game!

Amazing Race Birthday Party Cake:

A simple sheet cake iced in yellow with the Amazing Race logo would be perfect. You can use black, yellow, and white fondantThis is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and icing to create the logo, or if you'd like an easier way out- take the logo to a bakery and have them create the cake for you!

Amazing Race Birthday Party Thank You Notes:

Kids will go home with their tee shirts, their chocolate bar prizes, as well as their newly made marshmallow shooters! After the party the birthday child can use these thank you notes:

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Ready to Download The Free Amazing Race Party Printables?

Awesome! Simply sign up below to join the MomOf6 community, and you'll be directed to a thank you page with access instructions! The download includes the party invitation and thank you note, as well the blank and pre-printed game cards!

Comments

I would really LOVE this Amazing Race party supply pack. Please can you let me know the easiest and most cost effective way of getting them from you.
We absolutely love the game and my kids are very very keen to do this for their birthday.
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing ideas!!

Approximately how long did this activity take from start to finish? I teach PE and want to do it as a fun free day, we have 40 minute classes wondering if I will need to take off or add a few challenges. Thanks

Sharon, I love your ideas and I can’t wait for my son’s birthday this next month! I do have a question regarding the downloads. I followed all of the instructions, and I confirmed my email. However the printables will not begin the download. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

Hello Sharon,
I love your amazing race idea. I’m also a fan of the T.V. show. I love themed birthday partyies,and will be using this for my sons 10th birthday party.
I subscribed, but nothing downloaded. I’m I doing something wrong lol.

Hi Sharon, I am new to Momof6 – what a wonderful resource – thank you.

I have subscribed to the newsletter and confirmed my subscription but haven’t received a download. Does this come through via my e-mail? I am looking for the Amazing race printables. I am planning an Amazing Race Party for my 11 year old daughter, she is so excited!
Thanks again for all your information.
Kind regards
Michelle

Hi Sharon, i’m not sure what i’m doing wrong…I have saved the printables to my computer (PDF format) but when I go into PicMonkey to install text onto it, it says “we can’t open that kind of file” ?
Thankyou, Summer

All you need to do is to enter your email address, and then confirm your subscription when you receive the email confirmation. Upon confirmation the printables will automatically download to your computer or device!

This totally saved me! I was able to pull everything together in two hours thanks to your help. My son wanted an Amazing Race party, and I had no time to plan. Your ideas were great, even for 14-year-olds. I subbed a Lego building challenge for the Hack-Sack race, and had them go to a park to spell out his age with their bodies. I also threw in a challenge where they had to match his old school pictures to embarrass him a little. The marshmallow shooter was a great touch as well. Thank you so much for the ideas!

We’re just putting together a birthday challenge for Miss turning 10… unfortunately a friend of hers has already done an Amazing Race so we’re staying away from that as a theme… but same concept. I’m just wondering if you had “declared winners”at the end of each challenge… or if each team just then went on to the next challenge as they finished?

Thanks mum of 6 for all the information. Really well explained and terrific templates. It made for a lovely autumn 11 year old party for 10 girls over the weekend. Reports from school today included – ‘best party ever’ ‘ i just wanted the games to keep going’. Thanks from Australia.

Would love to print the blank cards, but can’t find them individually. I see all 3 as one link/download, but do you have them individually linked so I don’t have to download and crop the other two cards? Thanks!

I can not find how to download the blank printable clue cards for the amazing race. I found the pic monkey but not a download for the clue cards. If you could direct me to the download option I would appreciate it. Thank you for posting this it has really been a birthday saver for me.

How perfect is this…i was just on the internet to get some ideas for my 11 year old’s birthday party and came across your site. It looks like we also have something else in common, my two girls are from China. Where are your children from?
Can’t wait to use some of your ideas at my daughter’s party!

I came across this post looking for ideas for my 11 year old’s upcoming party. Although we are not into the show, this party sounds like it is going to be so much fun and is perfect for this age group! We will definitely use some of your games and will add more of our own. I appreciate all the free materials you offered as well. Can’t wait until the party!

Thanks for the great ideas! I love the amazing Race show and I am throwing my 10 year old boy a birthday party next week. Used your invite and thanks for the great tips on using picmonkey! It worked out great! Can I use picmonkey to make my own detour/roadbloack/pitstop cards too?

I am interested in doing this party for my daughter that is turning 10. I just want to now a few things… I was looking at the cards and it says boy on it and stuff so i wanted to know the fount that you used to make the cards so I can copy it down and make it say girl but still use the same fount so the cards that don’t say boy on them i can still use and it will all match!’
Thanks,
Skylar

I can’t thank you enough for this site! I came across this idea 3 hrs before my son’s party was due to start …. and still managed to deliver it ….to cries of “best party ever!!!” no less. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!!

I couldn’t figure out how to get the free printables? Maybe I am overlooking the obvious but need some help. We have a family reunion in a week and really would love to get this together. Mahalo, Malia

just wanted to say thanks! for sharing, for posting, for creating. we had a great time at my son’s Amazing Race party and appreciate your great plans and your taking the time to answer silly questions.

Hi Sharon,
I love all your ideas and am planning on hosting an Amazing race party for my son’s 8th birthday. Is there a way I can print off the ideas you have here? I’m not at all handy with the computer like you must be! I’ve pinned all the things I liked to my pinterest board, but am unable to find a way to click on anything to print. Is that an option??

Sharon, Thank you so much for posting this for us mom’s who strive to be clever and crafty, but just are not. lol
I’m having a party for my 10yo and this saves me so much headache. I have many more route cards than detour/roadblocks. Do you by chance have a template of three only “route info” or single (so I don’t have to waste paper when I print). Ps thanks for the tip on Pic monkey, loving it!!

Love this party idea! Hoping to do this for my 10 year old! Can you help me clarify for the teams… If one finds the coin with the birth year at the base of the tree…what do the other teams do? Out of luck?.
Thank you.

looking fowrard to my son’s Amazing Race Party next week – thanks so much for sharing this! Two quick questions: the link for the marshmallow shooter is not working for me and i found a couple options. curious which one you used? 2. any suggestions for shoeboxes – i find myself short on those.thanks!

Okay- I updated the link to a new post on the marshmallow shooter- so click on that and you’ll find the one that we used. Short on shoeboxes? Hmm… maybe go to the post office and pick up a stack of their free mailing boxes- I think the medium sized ones might work and still be “strap-able” to a child’s waist. You’ll have to test it!

thank you Sharon. You really are amazing and inspiring. I’m getting into serious party planning mode for Saturday and wondering about a couple things. For the water balloons, did you precut cups and balloons or give the kids scissors (I”m sure either would work just wondering on timing on safety). Also, how did you tie on boxes for Junk in the Trunk/ I’m thinking of either duct tape or using a strip of fabric. Also, fyi on boxes, I did find some fed ex boxes, but at this point I am planning to use emptied-out kleenex boxes and taping up the openings to make them smaller. I’ll keep you posted. and thanks!

Hi!
My kids were 11 when they had this party- so I let them go ahead and cut the cups themselves (if they were pre-cut it would make this task go by too quickly!). We used a staple gun to staple fabric strips to the boxes for Junk in the Trunk. And kleenex boxes are a great idea! (Why didn’t I think of that?)

looking fowrard to my son’s Amazing Race Party next week – thanks so much for sharing this! Two quick questions: the link for the marshmallow shooter is not working for me and i found a couple options. curious which one you used? 2. any suggestions for shoeboxes – i find myself short on those.thanks! D

I loved your ideas for The Amazing Race party and I want to use your Invitation template by editing it in PicMonkey. However the Date, Time RSVP is pre-printed at an angle, so when I use add text option, it allows me to print only straight. Is there a way out ? Also there is no plain white in the overlay options.

Hi Sam! You can tilt a text bar in PicMonkey by grabbing it by the circle at the top and then use your mouse to turn it to match the angle you want. Also- the color code for white is ffffff (6 f’s)- just change the color # in the upper right corner.

I teach 5th grade and we do The Amazing Race for US Regions and somehow I can’t find the template I used in the past for the Detour, Route Info and Road Block. Would you be willing to share an editable template?

I have a daughter in 5th grade right now, and I am always happy to help out any teacher! All of my printables are free and available for you to download. The blank template is listed right there at the bottom of the post, simply click on it to open and then feel free to save it to your desktop to either edit it (I use Picmonkey) or print it.

How thrilled I was to come across this blog post, as I have been planning an Amazing Race birthday party for the past month or so. Two questions, if you wouldn’t mind addressing:

1. Where did you get your t-shirts? I have been looking at Custom Ink to make the team shirts, but it wouldn’t be cheap.

2. I would love to use your invitation, but I can’t fit my info into the spaces provided for date, time, etc… in PicMonkey. Do you know if there is a way to overlay a text box on this part so that the pre-prints don’t show?

Again, many thanks. I am really inspired by this post and look forward to reading around on your site some more!

I didn’t print anything on the tees- they were just blank solid colored tees- which you can buy at Michaels fairly inexpensively (or Target/Walmart). And you can definitely overlay a shape on the written part of the invite- in PicMonkey, select overlays, Geometric and then just place a white box over the pre-printed info. You can then just add text where you need it. I hope that you have a great party!

I am in the planning stages of my daughter’s amazing race birthday party & found your site. Thank you so much!! I just personalized the invite using PicMonkey (something I’ve never used before) and it was so easy! I’m so excited to use your templates for the clues. Thanks again!

I am planning a party for my 11 year old daughter. I love some of your ideas. I am sending them around the neighborhood to friends’ houses (several of which are international students here) to do activities from different countries but I will use some of your ideas to help the flow. I am wondering if it is possible to get an editable copy of your cards and invitation. I have been busy and just realized how unprepared I am for a party next week! eek! thanks in advance 🙂

Thanks so much for the stunning idea of the amazing race party I am about to have my house invaded by teenage boys so this will keep them busy for a while before getting up to mischieve! Iam deffinately going to combine the minute to win it theme aswell on the night before!

Thnx so very much for these great ideas…haven’t watched the amazing race.much….but my 11yr old is excited about this theme…im winging it with the help of your ideas…wish me luck…party this Tuesday…mom of 3…thnx so much…hoppy easter. from Saskatoon, sk…canada…

Hi! I’m Sharon Rowley…

As a Mom of 6 kids ages 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, & 13, I am passionate about helping other busy Moms get organized, host awesome birthday parties, enjoy summers with their kids, and take great family road trips.
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